It was heartening to see some eighty people gathered in the Fellowship Hall last Saturday for our End of Life Planning Seminar. Led by our own Duke McCall (attorney), Janice Johnson (Columbarium Director), ministry colleague Joe Farry (Bon Secours/Compassus Hospice) and myself (funeral planning), we confronted topics many would rather avoid in the company of trusted friends. It was a time of teaching, asking and sharing that comforted our anxieties and reminded us where our hope lies. Thanks to all our speakers for their contributions!
If you missed it, please remember that we ministers try to be equipped and ready for conversations about both the practical aspects of end-of-life preparation and the spiritual aspects of living with the end—and with eternity—in mind.
While that seminar was going on, another life-affirming ministry was taking place. Members of our Visitation Team were delivering bags of fresh farmer’s market peaches to those of our members who cannot come to us. It’s joyful work to strengthen the “ties that bind” and to turn the love of Christ into something others can actually “taste and see.” That’s also how we demonstrate that death has no power over us. We celebrate life! We seek one another’s welfare! We invest in what really matters!
—Kyle Matthews, Minister of Pastoral Care
